Juliana Bustillo & Tidawhitney Lek

Points on BeachBored

All points through Week 6 are now up on BeachBored. Be sure to check your points and know where you stand! So far we’ve had 321 points possible. Here’s how many points you should have to be on track for each grade level, and how many peeps in 1p / 2:30 are currently at each grade level:

Talk to Strangers

Alicia Castro

She watched as her daughter pulled the rings through the maze, paying careful attention to each of the loops. She sat praying that she would never have to see her here again.

It had been just a few years ago that her daughter, Jesse, was diagnosed with cancer, so they had spent more days at the doctors office than she could remember. Today marked three months after her last chemotherapy appointment. Her daughter had just completed her PET scan, and while Jesse didn’t quite understand the severity of today, she knew that she must stay strong despite what the results said. She wanted nothing more in the world than to walk out of this office with good news to share with their family.

This past few years resembled the toy that Jesse was playing with, full of loops to go through only to be forced to go back to the beginning. She had watched her 9 year old daughter go through unimaginable pain, feeling more and more helpless each time, and only wanted her to be the same peppy little girl she was not too long ago.

“Jessie, we are ready for you,” the nurse called out and before going to meet her at the door, they looked at each other nervously. This was the moment they had been waiting for.

March 5, 1954

Gabriella Salazar

In March of 1954, Mary had the opportunity to study abroad in Africa. Her adventure began when her parents let her leave her small town to attend college at Long Beach State College. She was one of the few girls to attend the university and the first to attend college in her family. She yearned for a cultural education about the people that America seemed to hate simply for the color of their skin. Due to her passion in Anthropology and African studies, she was invited to study abroad in Zambia, East Africa during Easter Break. To document her time there, Mary brought along a diary. The group from the university included a Professor Williams (PhD in African studies), two other female students, and three other male students. To immerse themselves in the culture, the group were taken from tribe to tribe during the day. They were to return by nightfall every day. However, the tour guides lost track of time on this particular day. Due to the danger of driving at night, they decided to stay with the Bemba tribe. What occurred on that night never left Mary.

Dear Diary,

I am unsure of the events which occurred last night.

We were set to leave the Bemba by the time the sun had reached a little past mid sky. But we lost track of time as the Chitimukulu told the story of his people. We were in a trance, unable to stop listening to their beautiful history. Professor Williams exclaimed, “Oh my!” as the Chitimukulu’s story came to an end. I looked up to see the sun setting in deep shades of reds and oranges. The tour guides quickly jumped and looked at each other in disbelief. I could tell they did not want us to stay but there was not anything to do. So, Professor Williams talked quietly with the guides and after a minute they turned to the Chitimukulu. We were to stay the night with the tribe to stay safe from the dangers of the wild.

Lightumination

Karen Luau

Light.

That was all I recall seeing two months ago. Just big white flashing lights. It felt like a trucker’s headlights as he’s driving the opposite direction of me at 2 in the morning. My mother still cries herself to sleep every night blaming herself for what happened, constantly telling my father she shouldn’t have forced me to drive back that night. My father drinks constantly barely listening to my mother’s rants. My little brother became muted, he barely utters a word to anyone, I guess he got traumatized the most, even more than me.

I have a boyfriend, after the accident he became very distant, probably too shocked to apprehend what had happened. That was when he slept with my best friend. He left me when he thought I wasn’t coming back. He didn’t want to be sad. He didn’t want to be lonely. I don’t blame him and I don’t blame her. It was a horrible crisis in their lives and my accident brought them closer together.

Must Destroy, Wow
curated by Carmina Correa & Vanessa Olivarez
Watercolor on paper, 20×20″, 2017
Werby Gallery, School of Art, Long Beach State

Much Love, Wow

Bernadette Villena

Prancing around the house, Natalia was thinking of names for her new dog. Isabella was too girly. Tiger was too wild. Daisy reminded her too much of a flower. Katniss? Katniss. Natalia liked the feel to that name. It reminded her of the brave, fighting Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. She already knew from first glance at the pound that her dog would be bold and fitting to the attributes of Katniss herself, so why not give her a name that suited her. Natalia chose the right name in fact. One day, robbers attempted to steal valuable jewelry and money from a safe hidden in Natalia’s house. However, they failed since Katniss bit one of the robbers and scared the other ones away. Katniss was truly an honorable, loyal dog until the day came where things began to go south.

Natalia began to notice a change of pace with Katniss, in which Katniss began to bite people that meant no harm. Natalia scolded Katniss each and every day until there was one certain day that Natalia noticed that her dog disappeared. With all the bad stuff happening with her dog’s behavior, Natalia didn’t know what to do and broke down in tears. While her family decided to put up “missing dog” posters around the neighborhood, Natalia stayed at home with the TV on the news, hoping for Katniss to pop up on the screen. However, of course, Natalia knew that lost dogs didn’t really appear on the news, so she just cried to herself while faintly listening to the voices on the television.

A loud beeping sound suddenly began to beep vigorously on the TV before a specific phrase was stated, “BREAKING NEWS: CLIFFORD SIZED DOG DESTROYING THE CITY. CHAOS EVERYWHERE.”

Mad Max

Ceasar Mark Nonga

There once was a little shiba inu named Max. He was an ambitious little dog from the pound who just wanted to be adopted. Max was very young when he was brought to the pound and he does not have any other memories before that. Max was about 7 years old and has seen many other dogs come and go. Now he was just waiting for his turn.

One day he was taken out of his kennel by an older couple. At last, he thought he was going to be adopted. The couple proceeded to examine him and even though they first looked at each other with disagreement, the couple decided to take Max home. Max was very excited and he couldn’t stop wagging his tale with excitement. When the elderly couple came home, they proceeded to open the door and there Max saw a little boy. As soon as Max got close to the little boy, the little boy began screaming and shouting and hitting Max. Apparently, the boy wanted a dachshund and not Max. The little boy ended up bring Max outside of the house and made him run away. Without food or shelter, Max was shunned from what he thought would be his brand-new owners.

Must Destroy, Wow

Colene Encarnado

There was once a Shiba Inu named Kabosu. He lived most of his life alone having been abandoned on the streets of Tokyo at a very young age, but he never felt lonely. Wherever he went, people always treated him kindly. Strangers always pet him and gave him snacks because they couldn’t resist the adorable dog that confidently wandered the streets. He loved the freedom and attention he got from being a stray dog and actually felt bad for domesticated pets.

One day, however, he found himself drawn to a friendly looking woman who had dog biscuits to offer him. Usually when people offered him snacks, it wasn’t dog snacks and they would just hand him their leftovers, so he was excited to see he would get some of the fancy stuff today.To Kabosu’s dismay, the woman turned out to work for an animal shelter and he soon found himself trapped in a world of vets and confined spaces.

Story of a Dog

Andrew Hoang

Through months of vigorous training with the aliens, he finally decided it was time. He traveled on his four paws to the city where his mother abandoned him and wanted to wreak havoc. He decided to transform into his final form and began shooting lasers at anything he saw. With his big body, it came with a bigger bark. When his mother heard his bark she instantly knew it was her son. She finally found the courage to go from her hiding spot to embrace her son in order to save the city. She showed herself to her son and barked as loud as she could from the top of her lungs. The Shiba noticed it was his mother and froze for a second.

The Cutest Annihilation

Jennifer Ostroff

Her lips pursed together as she whistled a tune, unaware of the horror that would greet her. As she pulled into a parking spot, happy to have made good time, she finally noticed something amiss. The entire parking lot was completely vacant. Nell glanced wildly around, wondering if this was some kind of elaborate prank…but she saw no one. No cars, no people…not even the chirping of birds. The air was still, and the world was silent…until…

THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…

She could feel the vibrations throughout the car, could see the water in her Evian bottle pulsate every few seconds…a steady rhythm. Shakily reaching for the handle, Nell got out of her car and looked anxiously around. Was this an earthquake? Where should she hide? Could she even hide?

Untitled (Installation) by Amy Williams that inspired the short story “The Nemeton” by Cattleya Reyes

The Nemeton

Cattleya Reyes

Thus, Marina and Lani devised a plan to escape from the Nemeton. They wanted no more to be Wildflower. Marina wanted Lani and her to be safe and as far away from the Nemeton as possible. To achieve this goal the sisters visited the Spirit Lady.

The Spirit Lady instantly knew the problem Marina and Lani were facing without them having to say a word. Her cure was simple: remove their magic. Marina and Lani were scared and did not know the right thing to do. Finally Lani asserts, “I do not want us to be separated, Marina. I got us in this mess. Let’s do it and get out of here please.”

Zines & Flip Books

Here are a few of your Zine & Flip Book projects:

Antonella Redekosky

The concept behind my zine is stereotypes that I usually am associated with when people first see me or meet me. I utilized words that represented the main ideas of what I was going to write about as a background. I wrote these words in large, colorful lettering. Then in a mini paragraph I described the main idea. The brochure included four different sections:

This week’s activity was to create a zine. Which is essentially a small magazine; they can be about anything. I promised Glenn a zine about Marine Biology, but ended up getting too stressed about studying for my Ecology midterm on Wednesday that I made my zine a study tool. My zine is called “The Not-So Thrilling Story of Introduced Species.” In my biology class we have to memorize 8 of the introduced species in the United States and important facts about them. So each page of my zine is one of the introduced species and the facts we need to know.

Recently my life has become busy with a lot of studying and work each day while also trying to balance my social and family life. There are only so many days in a week and so many hours in a day. I have created this little flip book from Sunday to Saturday that I wish I was living. It consists of the basic necessities such as eating, sleeping, and going out for some activities. Then doing it all over for the week. What a dream!

I titled my zine “16 Things We Need in Life” & I was originally going to list practical things we need in life; but then, I wanted to get a little more creative & a little funny, so I started adding some random things like potatoes & chicken.

What was the meaning behind this zine you may ask? Well, I wanted to tell a story with the use of watercolor. I didn’t have a story line so I just painted what I felt first and then added words after. I know the story is kind of depressing but I like it. I went with some emotions and just let the words hit paper. I wanted to incorporate a lot of different colors so I tried to use as many as I liked for the “theme” of the story.

I really enjoyed this project. I felt like I really got to explore who I was with this small book. There is something about watercolor that I love. It just feels so natural to me.

For my flip book, I decided to do “Moments in Volleyball”. There are many more moments from being associated with a volleyball team, but these are the ones I remember most from being in my high school volleyball team. Doing this activity made me miss how much fun it was with my teammates.

LA Art Book Fair

A few of you visited the huge & overwhelming LA Art Book Fair at the MOCA Geffen Contemporary!

Bernadette Villena

On Saturday morning, I woke up really early at around six in the morning since I had a nursing test to take at CSULA. It was pretty nerve-wracking, but I mean it was over within four, long hours. Once the test was done, my family picked me up and surprised me with tacos. I was literally jumping for joy when I got those because I was starving ever since the beginning of the test. Anyways, tacos done and set aside, we headed towards the Geffen Contemporary for the LA Art Book Fair.

Emelina Virga was inspired by an Annette Messager tote bag at the LA Art Book Fair

Yesterday, my friend Claire and I decided to check out the (free) Art Book Fair in downtown LA. I did not have many expectations for how it was going to be, but as soon as I got their, I was immediately overwhelmed– in the best way possible! Among the flocks of hipster artists, Claire and I pushed our way through the various rooms, looking at all the incredible art. I was really drawn to all the political pieces that people had, like mini-posters you see above. Being more of a liberal, it was nice to be surrounded by like-minded people, and seeing their ideas being turned into art! We continued walking, heard the sound of a tattoo gun, looked over at one another, and both at the same time said, “no, it can’t be.” We turned the corner and saw, however, that yes, it was true– artists were giving out tattoos. This, I think is the ultimate ode to someone’s art– when they want to get a piece branded on their body forever. Although I didn’t end up buying any merch or books, I was really intrigued by two pieces in particular. One was a book and the other was the uterus bag you see above. The book had various pictures of guys from a gay dating site in Europe, either naked or striking a provocative pose with next to them eloquent poetry in a profile-like way. I thought it was really unique and also really fitting for today’s modern romance. The uterus bag says in French “it is my decision” and as you can see, flashes the middle finger. I would have loved to buy it mainly because I am completely disgusted with the discussions surrounding taking away a woman’s right to abortion and preventative family care. Overall I really enjoyed taking a nice Saturday afternoon to please my creative brain and even listen to a bit of music. Sitting outside, we also encountered two Italian guys (I am so obsessed with Italian), so it was kind of like the universe knew and wanted me to be there.

one exhibit near the exit caught my eye, mainly because it looked familiar. It was titled Teen Angels, and displayed works from Teen Angel himself, whose real name was David Holland. The reason it was so familiar was because it was Chicano based art, centered in Southern California. It’s what I see on train rides through LA and on murals by my aunt’s house. One of the people in charge of the exhibit told me about his magazine. It was really popular in LA and people liked it because you could submit your own artwork and have it published in Teen Angel’s magazine. I was shocked when she told me he had passed away only two years ago, meaning his art was not only very popular but also recent, and I was only learning about him now.

I was immediately drawn to a compilation of works by George Herms titled The Sabian Exercise in which he made a drawing a day from April 1971 to April 1972 where he would draw something based on Sabian symbols.

The exhibition consisted of three massive walls filled from floor to ceiling by these elaborate and gorgeous drawings. The drawings were created by having “each day take the form of one symbol as a starting point, and having it expand upon it within each degree of the zodiac circle”; the concept of the project was meant to draw out the rhythm of each symbol through poetry.

When looking at this exhibition, it took me to a state of nirvana; it was so beautiful and immaculate that I spent almost an hour just reading and taking in each piece.